Early Risers.

[edcayton]

If I was expecting pizza then cabbage would not be a pleasant surprise.

 

Ed

[AndyID]

Grass cutting postponed. It's snowing, again. I wonder if there is any grass under there?

[Tony_S]

If I was expecting pizza then cabbage would not be a pleasant surprise.

 

Ed

This cabbage was rather nice. Roughly chopped pointy type cabbage, steamed slightly so it was still crunchy.

Tony

[Tony_S]

What rosè do you recommend with pizza Tony? I guess for pizza with pineaple on it you would need acidic overtones with a hint of blackberries.

We have overtones of rain this afternoon. It's sunny, then suddenly lashing down before the sun comes out again.

If we had had the pizza I would probably have had a glass of water. However I would happily drink almost anything red with pizza.

The Rosè with today's dinner was something originating from the South of France. I'll look later. It came from Waitrose I think.

I haven't had pizza with pineapple for a long time. Probably in a German motorway service station.

[DDolfelin]

I haven't had pizza with pineapple for a long time. Probably in a German motorway service station.

 

Didn't the Germans have pineapples on their helmets at one time?

[AndyID]

Didn't the Germans have pineapples on their helmets at one time?

Rings or chunks?

[Tony_S]

Didn't the Germans have pineapples on their helmets at one time?

I think that was Pickelhaube rather than pineapple.

[BoD]

A short question, if you don't mind. I think I may get a quicker answer here,  rather than starting a new topic.

 

When American instructions refer to screws what does #4 mean. It's not the length so must somehow indicate the 'diameter' but what exactly does the 4 refer to? 

[shortliner]

BoD, are you after wood or machine screws? - if wood this may help  http://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=iiB%2f8yUh&id=77666F7C33F182C0581CB6FECDA323EE37931AB4&q=US+screw+sizes&simid=608023248571269850&selectedIndex=20&ajaxhist=0

Edited March 5, 2017 by shortliner

[AndyID]

A short question, if you don't mind. I think I may get a quicker answer here,  rather than starting a new topic.

 

When American instructions refer to screws what does #4 mean. It's not the length so must somehow indicate the 'diameter' but what exactly does the 4 refer to? 

 

Small screw sizes have numbers - not unlike the BA system. Larger screw sizes are in fractions of an inch. Here's a link that explains it -

 

http://blog.mutualscrew.com/2015/07/07/a-retrospect-to-the-standard-screw-sizes/

[Coombe Barton]

Walked the dogs today in a gap in the rain. The woods smelled fresh and spring-like, with a hint of woodsmoke from early lit fires. Crocuses are poking their heads above the leaf litter to join the towering snowdrops. The dogs, the while, scented this burgeoning abundance of nature.

 

And in other news my poetic licence has just been renewed.

Edited March 5, 2017 by Coombe Barton

[emt_911]

Washing has been done and the garage has been emptied into the back of the van. At last I have all the equipment I need for my work without having to spend hours swapping things around. I even managed to avoid the rain.

 

Roast beef this evening. Afterwards the washing will be dry enough to iron.

 

What an exciting life I lead.

[BoD]

Thanks for the replies re screws.

[AndyID]

 

Walked the dogs today in a gap in the rain. The woods smelled fresh and spring-like, with a hint of woodsmoke from early lit fires. Crocuses are poking their heads above the leaf litter to join the towering snowdrops. The dogs, the while, scented this burgeoning abundance of nature.

 

And in other news my poetic licence has just been renewed.

 

 

I don't know why they have to go all the way to Alaska to run the Iditarod. They could have had it here. Torri and Shona would love to participate.

[New Haven Neil]

Crocus here are finished, the daffs are absolutely splendid, the grass is too bloomin long, and the gardener is stuck indoors!

[TheQ]

Afternoon all,

 

After a very broken night's sleep, due to waking every time I moved my left knee and back were painful after yesterday's standing all day at the show.

 

This was not good due today being sailing day.....

 

So I got ready with full waterproofs, due to seaweed inspectors forecast of 35 mph winds with heavy rain and walked out to blue skies and a gentle breeze.

 

After arriving at the club, putting the buoys out and consuming bacon butties. It was time for racing.

 

Today was the president's trophy, an annual event, 3 races, best two to count, Allcomers.

 

Course 3P, 1P, 2P. 3 laps.

 

As we had a good number of boats turn up, the start was split into 2 starts, keelboats first followed by the dinghies 5 minutes later.

 

The wind was an unusual South South West, meaning the wind was blowing into the V formed by the two legs the course which has a 90 degree bend at buoy 2.

 

Race 1, by this time the sky had clouded over, and the wind increased.

 

There was much manouvering, as we circled trying to time ourselves to be in the correct place at the correct time.

 

We made a good start being first, but one boat, which had started up wind of us, but slightly behind, caught a gust and swept round the corner and above us blocking our wind. At the point it started raining and the wind got very gusty.

 

The boat above us slowly got ahead, while two boats were below us ( further away from the wind). The furthest boat was slowly also overtaking by getting clear wind on the bank, and we were worried about them.

 

But after a couple of hundred yards the bank steps out about 10 feet and they were forced to tack across the river on starboard tack.

Boats with wind coming over the right hand side on starboard tack have right of way over boats on port tack with the wind over the left.

 

They forced the nearer boat to us to tack as well, but we were luckily far enough away so they went behind us.

Gradually the wind forced us and the lead boat towards the bank we were also forced to the bank and tack off. But both of us didn't need to go right across the river and tacked back once we were far enough across the river to reach the next buoy. The boats behind us were forced to tack again putting them further behind.

On rounding buoy 3 we set off back towards the club, trailing the lead boat by about 20 ft as we approached the club corner the dinghies started. We'd done that leg in 5 minutes!!!

On rounding the corner it was close hauled tacking up to bouy 1 on a much narrower section on river, with them so close ahead they blanketed our wind and we dropped back.

After rounding bouy 1 it was partly reaching ( wind from our left hand side) Sometimes running with wind from behind depending on the direction of the gust.

 

We quickly reached buoy 2 at the club and it was follow the leader all the way round till we reached club corner again, this time we managed to be on the opposite side of the river to them each time either boat tacked, we slowly gained until we got an over lap at the bouy but they had the inside.

 

So we went down to buoy 2 with us slightly behind, they had the inside again, that meant we were below them and getting their dirty air.

 

That forced us down to the bank much before them and we had to tack off, they managed to do the length of the straight with one tack we had to do another before the buoy.

After that it was follow the leader to the end.

 

We did the entire race in 30 minutes we were really flying...

 

 

Race two, still raining, still gusty.

 

This time we got a really good start and the race winners made a terrible start.

 

We got well away and sailed off for two and a bit laps before the previous race winner appeared behind us at the club corner. After much tacking we had the inside on buoy 1 and so it became a drag race back to bouy 2 then the finish, they got the inside on the bouy but we were slightly in the lead, on rounding the bouy they had a shorter route to the line, but we made it.................. by less than a foot.

 

Lunch two cheese rolls and a welcome cup of soup.

 

Race three, a much reduced number of boats 3 in our start, as the others soggily squelched home.

It wasn't raining but we made a bad start, and shortly after it started raining again.... The competitor who'd been our main competitor was more concerned with making sure we didn't win.

The third competitor was left to disappear off into the distance to win easily.

 

This is a recognised method of sailing, our competitor has had RYA sailing training and competed in national level racing. We did on lap two get ahead of him on the run from bouy 1 to 2, and held that all the way round back to bouy 1 again, however on the way down to bouy 2 they got a gust of wind we didn't get, they got slightly ahead and just enough to beat us to the line. So they win for the day...

 

However.....

 

 

The dinghies needed to be taken account of in the handicaps, the course / wind direction had favoured them, the lasers and toppers had often been planeing, the angles meant we couldn't use our spinnakers.

 

So we were 5th and the winning Yeoman 4th...

 

Home, dry out, gloves and hat by the fire. Haggis, black pudding, cauliflower cheese, for tea....

A whisky awaits..

[Tony_S]

Crocus here are finished, the daffs are absolutely splendid, the grass is too bloomin long, and the gardener is stuck indoors!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manx_Loaghtan

 

Grass disposal and a friend for Donk.

Edited March 5, 2017 by Tony_S

[Happy Hippo]

Maybe he/she hailed from the long gone Bugis Street, Singapore.

you should be careful with references to Ms Dick.

 

Istr there was a police disciplinary case where an officer was disciplined over remarks made to colleagues over her name and sexuality.

[TheQ]

Gardening news ,

We've had primroses flowering since before Christmas,

The earliest snowdrops are dying off,

There are a good crop of crocuses but they have been battered down by today's heavy rain.

The Daffs are about 9 inches tall but some way off flowering.

No sign of the bluebells yet.

The grass has been cut once this year and needs doing again.

Edited March 5, 2017 by TheQ

[lightengine]

you should be careful with references to Ms Dick.

 

Istr there was a police disciplinary case where an officer was disciplined over remarks made to colleagues over her name and sexuality.

I think that someone questioned over whether we were talking about Ms Dick or Mr Dick her father. That was the she/he query.

I personally cannot see anything funny about her name.

[New Haven Neil]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manx_Loaghtan

 

Grass disposal and a friend for Donk.

 

There's a herd not far from us, (pro. Lock-tan btw) and they make good eating too.  Strong tasting with a hint of liver in the meat, makes for a great pie or curry.  The would eat the whole garden though, not just the grass!

[New Haven Neil]

I was just laughing at the Wiki page, stating how many were left in the UK.... of course we aren't in the UK. They might find a few more here.

[Ohmisterporter]

Had a good day with great grandson at Preston model railway show, I think he enjoyed it as well. It always leads to "When are you building your layout granddad?" To which I am stumped for an answer. Better get on and do something I suppose. 

[Donw]

Years ago operating ICL 1900 machines we were running software under development, one of the programs was a tactical learning program which used a game to execute stratagems. The game was like noughts and crosses but on an 8x8 field and the aim was to get 4 in a line. A newly complied version knew no tactics at all. For example if you placed two crosses left a space then placed another it would fail to see the line nearly complete but once you had used that stratagem the game had learnt it and would remember it. You could see it trying it for itself soon after. At weekends if the work ran quiet we would have a competition between the 1904 and the 1903 machines the two operating teams would each teach their game as much as they could and then we would play machine against machine repeating the moves on the other machine.

Of course these days there is considerably more computing power in your mobile phone than both machines together. However if a shift went quiet it kept us amused.

 

Don  

[Donw]

Afternoon All,

 

Interesting discussion about education, standards, abilities and the lack thereof. Very bluntly, I am of the opinion that many of my younger colleagues are well trained but poorly educated. Perhaps I am an anomaly (no sniggering, please) but I think that one should read as widely as possible so that one can ask intelligent questions about diverse topics AND understand the answers. My interests are multiple and varied and - in a way - I am pleased that I am only "comfortable" for were I rich my house and grounds would be scattered and cluttered with items as diverse as an observatory, a professional (catering) kitchen, a helicopter, a fully kitted out laboratory, a canal boat and more books than the British Library - such are the wide nature of my tastes...

 

I am feeling both humbled and smug. Smug, because my instant read food thermometer (for taking accurate readings for gauging doneness of food) stopped working and I took it apart, found that one of the battery terminals had badly corroded (note to self: don't drop thermometer in soup again) and made a new sprung battery terminal from scratch, soldered it into place and got the machine running again.

 

Humbled, because a friend came over to help me move the screen in the home cinema/library* (I now have a short throw video beamer which required moving the screen nearer the projection booth**), whilst - conceptually - I knew exactly what to do, my friend's practical abilities far outstrip mine and with his pro power tools to hand, made a short and effective job of the repositioning.

* a spare bedroom kitted out with shelving for books, a desk, a sofa and a screen. **The cupboard outside the bedroom, with a hole cut through the wall for projection.

 

As they say, no good deed goes unpunished: so my friend and his wife had to suffer through one of my dinners: fresh salmon "cured" with fennel & dill seed, pepper, salt, treacle and whisky; roast leg of lamb with roast potatoes and asparagus spears, followed by a baked jam roly-poly for pudding. One of the nice things about roasting a joint, is that there are usually leftovers: beef goes into a cottage pie and lamb into a Shepherd's pie and once you've eaten a cottage pie or a Shepherd's pie made with left over roast meat you'll never want to go back to the minced meat versions...

 

Tonight will be a relatively simple supper: griddled Wild Boar Chops, Griddled Fennel and (for Mrs iD and the Wolfpack) Polenta. I was given a whole loin of chops in one piece by a friend, so now I get to try out my brand new bone saw and cut the loin into chops! I have invested in various bits of Butcher's gear (bone saw, boning knife, cleaver, sausage filler, etc) so that I can buy half or quarter of a carcass, break it down into primal cuts and vacuum pack and freeze the result secondary cuts. By buying a portion of a carcass, the more expensive cuts (such as loin or fillet) become cheaper and you get lots of less commonly found at the supermarket cuts - which are also very tasty. Once I have made space in my deep freeze, the next time the local COOP offers half a pig (they break it down into primal cuts, but I'll order it as a whole - trotters and everything), I'll get one and spend a pleasant afternoon breaking up the carcass and saving up the scraps (meat and fat) for making my own sausages.

 

I'm very much in favour of "nose to tail" eating - both for culinary, economical and ethical reasons. Culinary - because often the neglected cuts are often the tastiest; economical - because with the butcher selling ALL of the animal, the cost of the more select cuts will drop as the butcher can recoup the cost of buying a carcass across all cuts of meat, not just a few prime cuts and ethically because if we eat ALL the animal, then fewer animals are needed to meet our meat needs and (one hopes) fewer animals translates in less intensive and therefore more humane rearing. Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoy being on top of the food chain, but I firmly believe (and this seems to be borne out) that a happy animal is a tastier animal. Some of the best pork I have ever eaten comes from a local butcher who gets his pigs from a local farmer where they (the pigs not the butcher or farmer) range free and get a daily bottle of beer.

 

As you may have discerned I am almost, but not quite, an obbligate carnivore.

 

And on those tasting notes I bid a you a pleasant Sunday afternoon and evening and a reasonable start to the working week.

 

iD

 

As a vegetarian the Jam roly-poly sounded nice. I do however support your view that eating the whole of the animal makes sense. As a boy my Gran would do a scrag end of mutton not something you here mentioned these days but properly cooked it was delicious and tender.

Don